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Boehner won’t rush an immigration overhaul through the House

House Speaker John Boehner today praised the ongoing efforts of two bipartisan groups of congressional lawmakers, but he emphasized that an effective overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws will take time.

“We’ve got our first hearing on the issue today in the Judiciary committee,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said, as the House of Representatives begins its first hearing examining the country’s immigration laws.

“This is not about being in a hurry. This is about trying to get it right on behalf of the American people and those who are suffering under an immigration system that doesn’t work very well for anybody.”

The House Judiciary Committee is holding its first hearing of the 113th Congress on immigration, examining existing opportunities for legal immigration and whether the Obama administration is effectively enforcing the country’s existing laws to target illegal immigration.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called for lawmakers and panelists to avoid using the term “illegal immigrant” during a committee hearing on immigration reform today.

“I hope no one uses the term ‘illegal immigrants’ here today,” Conyers said today, as National Review noted. “Our citizens are, the people in this country are not illegal, they are out of status, they are new Americans that are immigrants, and I think that we can forge a path to citizenship that will be able to pass muster.”

The comment is in keeping with what then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told a group of illegal immigrants in 2009. “You are special people,” she said, as Fox News reported. “You’re here on a Saturday night to take responsibility for our country’s future. That makes you very, very patriotic.”

Pelosi added that raids on work sites by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are “un-American.” The ICE union took a vote of no confidence in its political leadership in 2010.

“Senior ICE leadership dedicates more time to campaigning for immigration reforms aimed at large scale amnesty legislation, than advising the American public and Federal lawmakers on the severity of the illegal immigration problem, and the need for more manpower and resources within the ICE ERO to address it,” the union wrote in a letter explaining the vote.

The House should pass enforcement measures. Period. And highlight the hell out of them because they’re popular.

The GOP needs to beat the drum about lax enforcement and national security. Scare the p*iss out of the public. If it succeeded with Julia and contraception, it can succeed with immigration and a lot of Americans.

Let’s have about five years of rigorous enforcement to thin the herd. Then we can discuss a punitive path.